Like Lord Strathclyde, leader of the Conservative peers in the House of Lords, we have concerns about the Government's proposed reform of the upper chamber. We need a revising second chamber with the political authority to check bad government but New Labour has merely replaced the hereditary principle with Prime Ministerial patronage. According to Lord Wakeham's report, at most only 36% of the membership of the new chamber (and possibly only 12%), will be elected. Most members will be selected by an appointments committee. Tony Blair, surprise, surprise, will have the final say over the interim appointments body. Lord Strathclyde thinks the proposals stink. He has a vested interest to protect but has mainly been responsible and realistic in his doughty opposition to the New Labour Lords project.
But he has gone too far by accusing the Prime Minister of carrying out ''assault and battery'' on the constitution. Lord Strathclyde's speech to the Tory faithful was strong on soundbites but short on balance and fairness. This we might expect when any political figure is preaching to the converted. But Lord Strathclyde risks damaging the Tory case for less radical but, in the Conservatives' eyes, fairer reform of the Lords. He also risks damaging Tory prospects in Scotland, thrown a lifeline by the very programme of devolution they had resolutely opposed until William Hague's U-turn. Although Lord Strathclyde sought to qualify his outburst against New Labour's destruction of the ''evolving'' constitution by mentioning his party's continued support for the Scottish Parliament, there is a danger that his qualifying remarks will be lost in the general tirade.
He is certainly stretching the imagination with his assertion that the Scottish Parliament and its ''grown-up politics'' will work better with the inclusion of more Scottish Conservatives. The Scottish Parliament has given the Scottish Tories a platform from which to launch a comeback after the disaster of the 1997 General Election. And the Tories have been doing well in the opinion polls south of the Border, profiting from Mr Blair's many troubles. But they are making no inroads in Scotland, as our latest System Three poll confirms. Conservative support is static for Westminster and has actually fallen on both Holyrood votes. Lord Strathclyde could, and should, have been more judicious concerning the Government's programme of constitutional change.
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